Creating blog posts with relevant keywords is key to driving traffic to your website and keeping your readers coming back for more. Without adequate knowledge of search engine optimization or SEO, though, keeps most small business owners from driving organic traffic. If you are an entrepreneur who personally writes blogs for your business, here are a few SEO tips to help you properly optimize your blog posts so they start ranking in search engine result pages.
Title Tag
The title tag is the page link positioned at the top of your content’s preview on search engine result pages. The title is only allowed a limited space, so make sure that this is comprised of 60 characters or less. It is best to optimize your title tag by including your target keyword, placing this as close to the beginning of the title as possible.
When adding keywords, do so naturally. You would not want your title to look spammy. Including your target keyword in your title makes it more likely for searchers to click on your post since it contains the keyword they used in their search query.
Meta Description
The meta description is the short text shown just below the title tag. Add your target keyword and related keywords in your meta description to make this portion more appealing to your target readers and motivate them to click on your blog post link. Similar to the title tag, make sure that the meta description is written in a natural way, adding only relevant keywords as needed so that the text flows smoothly and actually makes sense to the readers.
Concise and Descriptive Heading
The heading gives your site visitor an idea of what your blog is all about. Adding relevant keywords in the heading provides SEO benefits as well, as long as this is done naturally. Avoid overstuffing your heading with multiple occurrences of your target keyword. Use your keyword once and, again, naturally.
Also, don’t limit your heading text to just your target keyword. Add other text around it so you are able to describe the blog post and provide some value to the reader other than just a keyword phrase.
Optimize Your Blog Post Content
Although search engines use keywords placed in your blog post as a ranking signal, it is important to avoid overstuffing your content. Multiple occurrences of your target keyword within the blog can be deemed as keyword stuffing which can lead to a penalty, consequently dropping your organic rankings.
Aside from the adverse effects to your SEO rankings, keyword stuffing can also hurt your blog readership. Your target audience are looking for relevant, helpful content. They will not be coming back to your blog if all they see is spammy content. Keep in mind to always write for your audience first and search engines second.
Optimize Images for SEO
Include a SEO friendly titles and descriptions in the images you upload on your blog. Your image file name, ALT text, and description should contain relevant keywords and accurately describe the images you have on your blog. Image search is becoming more popular to online searchers, which is why optimizing your blog post images is as important as optimizing other parts of your blog.
You may want to sign up for an online SEO training to learn more about how these factors contribute to the overall performance of your content.
Custom URL
It is important to make sure that your site URL structure is set up so that each blog post has a custom URL and not just a random extension showing a random set of letters and numbers or the date the post was published. Use the blog post title as the page’s URL extension – this will help with your click through rate.
Having a clear and descriptive URL extension allows your target audience to have a better idea of what your post is about and this is helpful in convincing them to check out your blog.
These basic blog post SEO tips can help small business owners create more effective content for their websites, increasing traffic and conversion.
Michelle Rubio is an experienced SEO copywriter and blogger since 2010. She has been working with various businesses, big and small, in the United States, UK, Canada, and Australia. You can see more of her works and experiences in her LinkedIn profile.